SEC. 4. That it shall be the duty of the secretary of the inte rior, immediately after the passage of this act, to provide a fit and proper apartment in his department, to be called the "Returns Office," within which to file the returns required by this act to be filed, and to appoint a clerk to attend to the same, who shall be entitled to an annual salary of twelve hundred dollars, and whose duty it shall be to file all returns made to said office, so that the same may be of easy access, filing all returns made by the same officer in the same place, and numbering them as they are made in numerical order. He shall also provide and keep an index-book, with the names of the contracting parties, and the number of each and every contract opposite to the said names; and he shall submit the said index-book and returns to any person desiring to inspect the same; and he shall also furnish copies of said returns to any person paying for said copies to said clerk at the rate of five cents for every one hundred words, to which said copies certificates shall be appended in every case by the clerk making the same, attesting their correctness, and that each copy so certified is a full and complete copy of said return; which return, so certified under the seal of the Department, shall be evidence in all prosecutions under this act.

SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of the secretary of war, of the secretary of the navy, and of the secretary of the interior, immediately after the passage of this act, to furnish each and every officer severally appointed by them with authority to make contracts on behalf of the government, with a printed. letter of instructions, setting forth the duties of such officer under this act, and also to furnish there with forms, printed in blank, of contracts to be made, and the affidavit of returns required to be affixed thereto, so that all the instruments may be as nearly uniform as possible.

[Approved, June 2, 1862.]

CHAPTER 109.-Approved, June 18, 1862.-Vol. 12, p. 431.

An Act providing that the officers of volunteers shall be paid on the pay rolls of the regiments or companies to which they belong.

That company officers of volunteers shall be paid on the muster and pay rolls of their company, party, or detachment, and not otherwise, except when such officer may be on detached service without troops, or on leave of absence.

CHAPTER 127.-Approved, July 2, 1862.-Vol. 12, p. 502.

An Act to provide for additional medical officers of the volunteer service.1 That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, forty surgeons and one hundred and twenty assistant surgeons of volunteers, who shall have the rank, pay, and emoluments of officers of corresponding grades in the regular army: Provided, That no one shall be appointed to any position under this act unless he shall previously have been examined by a board of medical officers to be appointed by the secretary of war, and that vacancies in the grade of surgeon shall be filled by selection from the grade of assistant surgeon on the ground of merit only: And provided, further, That this act shall continue in force only during the existence of the present rebellion.

SEC. 2. That from and after the passage of this act brigadesurgeons shall be known and designated as surgeons of volunteers, and shall be attached to the general medical staff under the direction of the surgeon-general; and hereafter such appointments for the medical service of the army shall be appointed surgeons of volunteers.

SEC. 3. That instead of one "assistant surgeon," as provided by the second section of the act of July 22d,' 1861, each regiment of volunteers in the service of the United States shall have two assistant surgeons.

1 See chap. 55, 16 April, 1862.

2 Chap. 9; but see, for cavalry regiments, sec. 11, chap. 201, 17 July, 1862.

CHAPTER 128.-Approved, July 2, 1862.-Vol. 12, p. 502.

office

An Act to prescribe an oath of office, and for other purposes.1 That hereafter every person elected or appointed to any of honor or profit under the government of the United States, either in the civil, military, or naval departments of the public service, excepting the President of the United States, shall, before entering upon the duties of such office, and before being entitled to any of the salary or other emoluments thereof, take and subscribe to the following oath or affirmation: "I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted, nor attempted to exercise the functions of, any office whatever under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power, or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God;" which said oath, so taken and signed, shall be preserved among the files of the court, house of Congress, or Department to which the said office may appertain. And any person who shall falsely take the said oath shall be guilty of perjury, and, on conviction, in addition to the penalties now prescribed for that offence, shall be deprived of his office, and rendered incapable forever after of holding any office or place under the United States.

1 This is a substitute for the form of oath prescribed by chap. 64, 6 Aug. 1861, vol. 12, p. 326.

CHAPTER 133.-Approved, July 5, 1862.-Vol. 12, p. 505.

An Act making appropriations for the support of the army for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and additional appropriations for the year ending the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, and for other purposes.

For pay of volunteers. * * * Provided, That the President shall not be authorized to appoint more than forty major-generals, nor more than two hundred brigadier-generals. And all acts and parts of acts authorizing a greater number of major and brigadier generals than are above provided for are hereby repealed.2

For providing for the comfort of discharged soldiers who may arrive in the principal cities of the United States so disabled by disease or by wounds received in the service as to be unable to proceed to their homes, and for forwarding destitute soldiers to their homes, two millions of dollars to be applied and expended under the direction of the President of the United States.

SEC. 2. That so much of the seventh section of the act approved March 3, 1851, entitled "An act to found a military asylum for the relief and support of invalid and disabled soldiers of the army of the United States," as requires that "all moneys, not exceeding two-thirds of the balance on hand, of the hospital fund and of the post fund of each military station, after deducting the necessary expenses," shall be set apart for the support of the military asylum, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

SEC. 3. That the enlisted men of the ordnance department now designated as master-workmen shall hereafter be designated and mustered as sergeants; those now designated as armorers, carriage-makers, and blacksmiths shall be designated and mustered as corporals; those now designated as artificers shall be designated and mustered as privates of the first class; and those now designated as laborers shall be designated and mustered as privates of the second class: Provided, That the pay, rations, and clothing now authorized by law to the respective grades of enlisted ordnance men shall not be changed.

SEC. 6. That section five of the act "to authorize the employment of volunteers to aid in enforcing the laws and protecting public property," approved July twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and section five of the act "to increase the 1 Extended to seventy-five major-generals and two hundred and seventy-five brigadier-generals, by chap. 68, 2 March, 1863. 3 Chap. 25.

2 See chap. 17, 25 July, 1861.

4 Chap. 9.

present military establishment of the United States," approved July twenty-nine, eighteen hundred and sixty-one,1 shall be so construed as to allow twenty-five dollars of the bounty of one hundred dollars therein provided to be paid immediately after enlistment to every soldier of the regular and volunteer forces hereafter enlisted, during the continuance of the existing war; and the sum of seven million five hundred thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for such payment.

SEC. 7. That all the aids-de-camp appointed by authority of the act approved fifth August, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, entitled "An act supplementary to an act entitled an 'Act to increase the present military establishment of the United States,'" approved July twenty-nine, eighteen hundred and sixtyone, shall be nominated to the senate for its advice and consent.

SEC. 8. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, by and with the consent of the senate, to appoint as many military storekeepers in the quartermaster's department of the army as the exigencies of the service may require; provided the whole number of military storekeepers in that department shall not exceed twelve."

SEC. 10. That the secretary of war be authorized to commute the army ration of coffee and sugar for the extract of coffee combined with milk and sugar, to be procured in the same manner and under like restrictions and guarantees as preserved meats, pickles, butter, and desiccated vegetables are procured for the navy, if he shall believe it will be conducive to the health and comfort of the army and not more expensive to the government than the present ration, and if it shall be acceptable to the men.

[Approved, July 5, 1862.]

CHAPTER 144.-Approved, July 11, 1862.-Vol. 12, p. 535.

An Act making appropriations for the payment of the bounty authorized by the sixth section of an Act entitled “ An Act to authorize the employment of volunteers to aid in enforcing the laws and protecting public property," approved July twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and for other purposes.

For payment of the bounty to widows, children, fathers, mo

1 Chap. 24.

2 Chap. 48. As fixed by chap. 163, sec. 4, 21 June, 1860.

8 There were seven before. 5 Chap. 9.